WEBINAR:On-Demand

"Exactly what work of yours does your employer own? A group of
system administrators has been working on ways to clarify that
issue for computing professionals who also work on Open Source
projects in their spare time. The fruit of their work, released
this Monday, is itself Open Source."

"The Systems Administrators Guild of Australia (SAGE-AU) Monday
published a press release announcing the Open Source Developer's
Agreement (OSDA), a set of clauses that can be incorporated into an
employment contract. "Most open source contributors are not fully
aware of the legal ramifications of contributing software to an
open source license without explicit permission from their
employers," reads the press release. "Many employment contracts
currently contain clauses that could result in unexpected legal
action from an employer who believes that they `own' the code."
Some employers even claim ownership of work done on an employee's
own time and on his personal equipment."

"Using the OSDA, developers could specify in their employment
contracts exactly which creations of theirs belong to the employer
and which do not. With the help of an intellectual-property
attorney, SAGE-AU composed four different clauses with varying
degrees of formality and restriction, as well as a sample letter of
agreement for employer/employee relationships that are already
established; the employee can choose the document that best fits
his situation."